The Lectionary

Dennis Bratcher

A lectionary is simply a list of Bible passages for reading, study, or
preaching in services of worship. As a general term, a Lectionary can
include readings for weekdays, although the term is more commonly applied
today to the Scripture readings for Sunday and holidays (Holy Days). Some
churches, such as those in the Catholic and Lutheran tradition, have their
own lectionaries, while other churches follow a common, shared lectionary.
There has been a tendency in recent years to move to more uniformity among
the various lectionaries.

Earlier lectionaries included a Daily Lectionary (The Daily Office) for
reading in daily church services. We have adapted the
Daily Lectionary Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer
for use as daily personal devotional readings. These are organized in a
2-year cycle, with Advent, 2016 (2017 Church Year) beginning Year 1.

Since most churches outside of the Catholic and Anglican traditions do not have
services every day, most lectionaries today are organized for Sunday
worship. The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL)
is a Lectionary for worship now used by many Protestant churches, and
includes readings for Sunday services, as well as other special days, such
as Christmas Eve and Day, Holy Name (New Years), Epiphany (January 6), Ash
Wednesday, Holy Week, Easter Vigil, Ascension of the Lord, and Thanksgiving
Day. The RCL Sunday readings are the basis for the
Lectionary Commentary and Preaching Paths in The Voice.

The RCL Sunday readings are organized around the two major
Seasons of the Church Year, beginning with
Advent-Christmas-Epiphany, and then Lent-Easter-Pentecost.
The remainder of the year between Pentecost and Advent is called
Ordinary Time, from the word "ordinal," which simply means counted time
(1st Sunday after Pentecost, etc.). The readings during Ordinary
Time are more diverse and often follow specific biblical books in sequence
rather than coordinating with specific themes.

The Sunday biblical readings are designed around a three year cycle, Year
A, Year B, and Year C. In this 3-year cycle, all of the major stories and
passages from most books of the Bible are included.

The Church Year begins with Advent in November/December.
We are presently in
Year A
of readings in the Revised
Common Lectionary.
Year A:
2016-2017, 2019-2020
Year B: 2017-2018; 2020-2021
Year C: 2015-2016;
2018-2019

There are usually four readings for each Sunday, one each from the
Psalms, the Old Testament, a Gospel, and an Epistle. However, during the
seven Sundays of Easter, the Old Testament Reading is replaced with a
reading from Acts. Also, on some Sundays a poetic
Responsorial Reading replaces the Psalm reading. Each year in the
3-year cycle, the readings focus on one of the Synoptic Gospels
(Matthew, Mark, or Luke), with readings from the Gospel of John used
throughout the year. The Gospel of Matthew is the focus of Year A, Mark
of Year B, and Luke of Year C.

One weakness of traditional lectionaries has been a neglect of the Old
Testament, especially in using it almost exclusively to point to New
Testament passages (see Hearing Old Testament Advent Texts). The RCL has
attempted to correct this problem, and allows more of the Old Testament to
be heard in its own right as the word of God. Even though there is still a
tendency to use Old Testament prophetic texts as prologue, the RCL has made
progress in presenting the Old Testament as Scripture for the Christian
church.